TCU arrives in San Antonio for Alamo Bowl, moves past Mayfield issue
For the first time in more than 60 years, the TCU football team stepped foot in San Antonio.
The Horned Frogs arrived Monday to festive music, banners and applause in the lobby of the team hotel, kicking off a week of preparations for Saturday’s Alamo Bowl against Oregon — a matchup of two of the highest-powered offenses in the country.
But first, Baker Mayfield crashed the party.
The Oklahoma quarterback, speaking to reporters in Miami, said TCU coach Gary Patterson doesn’t like him and “hung me out to dry” by never offering the scholarship he said he would.
So first, Patterson had to step off the bus to put out a public relations fire.
To me, both of us won. That was three years ago. To me, you just need to get over it.
TCU coach Gary Patterson
on Baker Mayfield’s“It was a win-win for everybody because Baker ended up being the starter at Oklahoma, and we had Trevone Boykin,” Patterson said. “To me, both of us won. That was three years ago. To me, you just need to get over it.”
Patterson explained how TCU ended up without Mayfield, who after a stop at Texas Tech has led Oklahoma to Thursday’s Orange Bowl national semifinal against Clemson.
“We recruited him. We already had one quarterback committed. We were thinking about taking another,” Patterson said. “Not myself, but my offensive staff — just like they did on Johnny Manziel — decided we just couldn’t take two.”
Patterson said he doesn’t dislike Mayfield.
“Oh, no, I don’t have any opinion about him — I haven’t been around him at all, besides playing against him at Tech,” he said. “From what I heard of the whole conversation, somebody asked a question and TCU wasn’t brought up, he brought it up.
“That’s just Baker Mayfield. He just needs to worry about beating Clemson.”
So that was the start of Patterson’s day in the Alamo City, where TCU has not played since defeating Trinity in 1952. Patterson will spend the rest of the week trying to get the Frogs ready for Oregon, which arrived Saturday with a six-game winning streak built on the health of QB Vernon Adams Jr.
“It’s like a Baylor; it’s like an Oklahoma,” Patterson said, when asked what awaits TCU. “They’re a top-10 football team. They’re ranked 15th, but they’re a team that when their quarterback has been healthy, just like when we’ve been healthy, they’re hard to deal with. But that’s what you want. You want challenges.”
Patterson said the game is going to teach him a lot about his defense. Oregon enters with the country’s fourth-ranked offense (548.2 yards per game). TCU is third (564.3).
For us guys on defense, we’ll get a chance to find out what our stock is.
Patterson
on playing Oregon“For us guys on defense, we’ll get a chance to find out what our stock is,” Patterson said. “We only lose a couple of guys on defense because we’ve played so many young guys. We’ve grown up and really played our best defense at the end of the year. Playing against an Oregon, if you can hold your own, you know that’s going to bode well for the spring and for the next season.”
The Frogs arrived with three San Antonio natives — running back Aaron Green, safety Derrick Kindred and linebacker Ty Summers. Punter Ethan Perry also played at Smithson Valley, 45 minutes up the road.
“It means a lot. All the people that couldn’t come see me throughout my four years at TCU get to watch me play my last game here,” Kindred said. “I’ve had a lot of people calling me, telling me they’re coming to the game. That just makes me more excited.”
The senior smiled.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t get everybody a ticket,” he said. “I had a lot of ticket requests, at least 35.”
Green called it a blessing to finish his college career where he began his high school career. But he said he has not talked to teammates about doing it for him or the other San Antonio players.
“I try not to make this about me and make it about the team,” he said. “TCU football, all we want to do is win. That’s always been our goal.”
Now they can focus on that the rest of the week. The first fire has been extinguished.
Carlos Mendez: 817-390-7760, @calexmendez
Alamo Bowl
No. 11 TCU vs.
No. 15 Oregon
5:45 p.m. Saturday, ESPN
This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 6:49 PM with the headline "TCU arrives in San Antonio for Alamo Bowl, moves past Mayfield issue."